


Don't let me hold you back

by original_donuts



Series: The search for that 'something' [2]
Category: ARGONAVIS from BanG Dream! AAside (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Mild Language, ren and wataru talk things out, takes place directly after my first fic so please read that first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26316613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/original_donuts/pseuds/original_donuts
Summary: It's been two weeks since Ren rejected Wataru and they have not spoken to each other since then, which is now causing problems for the band.Fortunately, Yuto has a plan.-An after-story forThat 'Something,' Did You Find It?
Relationships: Matoba Wataru & Goryo Yuto, Matoba Wataru & Nanahoshi Ren
Series: The search for that 'something' [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917454
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Don't let me hold you back

**Author's Note:**

> If you clicked on this on fic, you were probably upset over the ending of TSDYFI like I was and want Wataru to be happy.
> 
> So I now present to you this after-story.
> 
> If you haven't read TSDYFI yet, please read it [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25346386/chapters/61456378) first as this story contains spoilers.

_*ding dong*_

“…”

_*ding dong*_

“mmm...”

_*ding dong ding dong*_

“Alright, alright! I’m up!”

Yuto yawned as he sat up in his bed and began to stretch. He then looked at his clock and groaned when he read the time.

“It’s way too early for this…”

_*ding dong*_

“Ugh!” He threw his blanket off. “I’m coming!”

His doorbell kept ringing as he made his way towards the door. Once he reached it he angrily pushed the intercom button. “Who is it!?” he yelled, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

_“It’s me.”_

“Wataru?”

He opened the door, revealing Wataru with grocery bags in both of his hands.

“What are you doing here?”

Wataru ignored him as he silently shuffled his way into the apartment. 

Yuto stood by the door, trying to figure out why Wataru was at his apartment so early in the morning before it dawned on him.

_Oh right, his bass._

Wataru left his bass behind at the studio when he ran after Ren last night, so Yuto brought it back with him to his apartment. He was planning on returning it later today, but since Wataru was here he might as well return it now.

Yuto returned to his room and grabbed the bass before heading towards the living room. He made it up to the entrance way before stopping in his tracks.

“What the…”

Wataru was on his couch—surrounded by a bunch of sweets and empty candy wrappers—eating a pint of chocolate ice cream.

“Did you even eat breakfast?”

Wataru grunted and pointed at an empty plate covered in syrup and pancake crumbs before returning to his ice cream.

Yuto couldn’t help but make a bewildered face at the sight before him as he continued walking. Once he reached the couch, he immediately noticed Wataru’s puffed eyes with bags underneath. “You look like shit.”

Wataru scowled at him as he shoved some ice cream into his mouth. “Thanks.”

He then proceeded to shovel down the rest of his ice cream before moving onto the cream puffs. Yuto sighed—clearly something was up with his friend.

He leaned the bass onto the side of the couch before sitting down. “Alright, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Wataru muttered before aggressively eating a cream puff.

Yuto narrowed his eyes. “Don’t lie—you always eat a ton of sweets whenever you’re stressed or in a bad mood.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Wataru-”

“Besides,” he bit into another cream puff, “there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Wataru, it’s obvious that something’s wrong.” Yuto’s expression softened. “You always help me out with my problems, so let me do the same for you.”

_“You always let me talk to you about my problems, so I want to do the same for you.”_

“...”

Wataru lowered his cream puff. “...He said the same thing to me last night...”

“Huh? Who did?”

“Ren.”

Wataru sadly stared at his cream puff, which Yuto picked up on. “Did something happen between you guys?”

“I guess you can say that,” Wataru sighed. “Remember how I went after him when he left the studio?”

Yuto nodded—he was the one who encouraged him to go after Ren afterall.

“Well,” he continued, “I ended up confessing to him.”

“You did!?”

Yuto was about to congratulate him for finally confessing but stopped once he saw Wataru start tearing up.

“...What happened?”

“Ren...he…”

Wataru sniffed.

“He rejected me.”

“What!?”

Yuto felt a sharp pang in his chest when he saw Wataru burst into tears.

“After we left the studio, we went to the harbor to talk about what was on his mind,” Wataru managed between sobs, “but then…”

Wataru started crying again. Yuto, not knowing what to do, patted his back. Once he calmed down a bit, Wataru continued. “He told me he liked Nayuta.”

Yuto stopped patting his back. “Nayuta!?”

Wataru wiped his eyes before nodding.

Yuto’s jaw dropped as he began to process everything—Wataru confessed his feelings to Ren, but was rejected because of Ren’s feelings for Nayuta. 

_How did things end up like this?_

While Yuto wasn’t one to judge people for who they loved, he just couldn’t understand what Ren saw in Nayuta. “Please tell me you convinced him to not go after that guy."

Wataru’s silence only confirmed Yuto’s fears.

“No way…” Yuto slumped into the couch. “Why would you do that?”

Wataru turned back to his cream puff. “...I just wanted Ren to be happy,” he said before taking a bite.

The apartment became silent as Wataru proceeded to finish off the rest of his sweets. He was about to pick up his trash until Yuto spoke up.

“What’s the point of him being happy if you’re the one who ends up miserable?”

The apartment became silent once again as Yuto waited for an answer. Instead of answering, Wataru moved to pick up his trash. “Thanks for listening, Yu.”

Yuto was not having it. “Wataru-”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, interrupting Yuto. He went into the kitchen to throw away his trash before returning to the living room.

Wataru grabbed his bass and walked towards the door. “Don’t worry.”

He stopped in front of the door. “I won’t let my feelings interfere with the band,” he said before leaving.

* * *

_‘I won’t let my feelings interfere with the band’ my ass._

Yuto, Banri, and Rio were all seated at the counter in Submariner, exhausted after another day of a non-productive practice session.

Banri slumped over the counter and groaned. “Ugh...I’m so tired…” 

Yuto and Rio hummed in agreement.

There was band practice a few days after Wataru dropped by Yuto’s apartment so Yuto—being the good friend that he is—decided to give Wataru some leeway for any problems he might accidentally cause within the band for at least a week at most—thinking that everything was going to be resolved soon—but...

Yuto let out a long sigh.

It’s already been two weeks and nothing has changed.

Not to mention they have a live coming up soon.

Master chuckled as he handed them their drinks (coffee for Yuto and Rio, water for Banri). “You guys seem busy.”

Banri grabbed his cup. “Yeah, busy doing nothing,” he muttered before drinking everything in one go.

Master gave him a confused look.

“We haven’t been very productive these past two weeks,” Banri explained as he slammed his cup down. “Everytime we practice, we keep getting worse instead of actually improving.”

Master let out a low hum. “Do you know what’s causing this problem?”

Rio sipped his coffee. “Matoba.”

Master turned towards Rio. “Huh? Wataru-kun?”

“I don’t know what’s up with him, but he keeps making mistakes,” Banri said. “It’s been throwing us off our rhythm.”

“Not to mention he keeps avoiding Nanahoshi,” Rio added.

“Yeah! What’s up with that?”

Rio set his cup down. “Well, this is just my guess, but maybe something happened between them that went unresolved. That could explain Matoba’s behavior.”

Yuto flinched, which went unnoticed.

“That would make sense.” Banri put his hand onto his chin. “But what on earth could have happened...?”

Yuto jumped in his seat when everyone suddenly turned towards him. “W-what?”

“You’ve been surprisingly quiet, Goryo,” Rio stated.

Yuto gulped. “Oh, h-have I…?”

Banri narrowed his eyes. “You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

“Whaaat?” Yuto averted their gazes. “What gave you that idea? I don’t know aaanything.”

Banri and Rio continued to stare at him, unconvinced by his act. Yuto tried to not let their stares bother him, but soon became more and more uncomfortable the longer he was stared at. Eventually, he caved in. “Alright, fine! I’ll tell you what I know.” 

Banri smirked. “Tell us everything.”

Yuto sighed before speaking. “Two weeks ago, Wataru dropped by my apartment. I thought it was so he could pick up his bass, but as soon as he stepped in he started stuffing himself with sweets.”

Rio looked disgusted by that statement.

“I knew something was up since he always eats a ton of sweets whenever he’s stressed or in a bad mood,” he explained, noticing Rio’s expression, “so I asked him what was wrong.”

“And then?”

Yuto sighed again. “He told me he confessed to Ren.”

Banri threw his hands into the air. “Finally! It was about time!”

Rio, on the other hand, covered his mouth. “But that doesn’t explain his actions,” he turned to Yuto, “unless…?”

“...He got rejected.”

Banri lowered his hands. “Wait, what!?”

“I see. Matoba confessed to Nanahoshi and was rejected—bringing us to our current situation.”

Banri turned back to Yuto. “So Rio-kun’s guess was actually correct?”

Yuto nodded.

Banri sighed and slumped back into his seat. “Well, that would explain the awkward atmosphere between those two...”

“What are you going to do?” Master asked. “Your live is in a few days. If this keeps going on, it’ll be put in jeopardy.”

Yuto placed his elbows onto the counter. “Don’t worry.”

He smirked into his hands.

“I have a plan.”

* * *

* * *

_*jingle*_

“Welcome! Oh, it’s you, Wataru-kun.”

Wataru, not wanting to spend another second in the cold, stepped inside Submariner. “Good afternoon,” he greeted.

He took off his jacket and looked around. “Hm? The others aren’t here yet?”

Master wiped a cup. “Now that you mention it, Yuto-kun said that you guys were going to meet up here—something about the band?”

Wataru walked towards the counter. “Yeah. He messaged all of us last night saying that he had something important to talk about. Ah, lemon coffee please,” he requested as soon as he sat down.

“Coming right up.” Master started brewing the coffee and looked out the door. “It’s been cold lately, hasn’t it?”

Wataru frowned. “Yeah, it has…”

A cold night. A confession. Ren bowing and apologizing. Wataru running away and crying in his apartment.

He shook his head.

_Now’s not the time to think about that._

“It’s only noon and it’s already this cold.”

That caught Wataru’s attention. “Speaking of—Yu and the others should’ve arrived by now. It’s already past our meeting time.”

Master chuckled as he slid Wataru’s coffee over to him. “Who knows? Maybe they got caught up in something.”

Wataru picked his cup up. “Still-”

_*jingle*_

“Ah, Ren-kun! Welcome!”

Wataru froze.

“Good afternoon!”

_Why did he have to be the one to arrive and not someone else!?_

Wataru began to internally panic when he heard Ren approaching the counter before stopping. “...Wataru?”

“R-ren…” he replied, keeping his back towards him.

Wataru sipped his coffee as the atmosphere in the café became tense. Master looked at Ren and then at Wataru before sighing.

_They weren’t kidding when they said things were awkward between them…_

“Um-”

“Ah, sorry,” Master interrupted, “I have to make a call. Do you mind if I step out for a bit?”

“Oh,” Ren quickly glanced at Wataru before turning back to Master. “G-go ahead...”

“Thank you.” 

Master then walked out of the café before turning back to them. “Oh, feel free to help yourselves to anything from behind the counter,” he said before leaving.

Ren turned to him, confused. “What do you-”

_*click*_

“Hm?” Wataru turned around. “What was that-”

He almost dropped his cup when he saw Master locking the door.

“HUH!?”

Master smiled and gave them a thumbs up before walking away. A few seconds later, Wataru’s phone rang.

He grabbed his phone and immediately picked up once he saw the caller ID.

_“Oh, Wataru!”_

“YU!!”

_“Ow! Calm down, no need to yell!”_

“Calm down!?” Wataru began to pace around. “We were supposed to meet at Submariner this afternoon to talk about that thing you messaged yesterday, and it’s already…” he looked at the clock, “25 minutes past our meeting time!”

“Not to mention Master locked the building with me and Ren inside!”

_“Oh I know.”_

Wataru stopped pacing. “...what?”

Laughter came from the other end. _“I can’t believe that actually worked!”_

A hum of agreement was made.

_Banri-kun? Kikyo?_

_“Looks like ‘Operation: Get Wataru-kun and Ren-kun Alone Together’ was a success!_

Wataru eventually regained his composure. “What is going on!? Weren’t we supposed to be meeting up?”

_“Oh yeah, about that…”_ Yuto hummed. _“That was a lie.”_

“WHAT!?”

_“Yeah, we needed to come up with an excuse to get you and Ren-kun alone together without raising any suspicions.”_

_“This was all Goryo’s idea, by the way.”_

_“Yup! I even asked Master if he could help us out!”_

Wataru stared at the door. “So that call he had to make…?”

_“It was to let me know he did his part.”_

Wataru sighed. “Why are you doing this?”

_“So that you and Ren can talk things out with each other.”_

“There’s nothing we need to-”

_“Yes, there is.”_

Wataru was stunned into silence.

_“I wasn’t lying when I said there was something important to discuss regarding the band—it just so happened to be about you and Ren.”_

“Yu-”

_“I understand that you’re still hurting from being rejected,”_ Yuto said, interrupting Wataru, _“and that the last thing you want to do is be around him—talk to him even—but you two really need to talk.”_

Wataru quickly glanced at Ren. “I don’t know if I can…”

_“Of course you can!”_ Yuto reassured. There was a short pause. _“I mean...you kinda have no choice...”_

Wataru facepalmed.

_“So with that being said~,”_ Banri chimed, _“think of this as our last job as your wingmen!”_

“W-wait a minute!”

_“We’ll drop by in an hour or so to give you and Nanahoshi some time to talk things through,”_ Rio added.

“I said wait-!”

_“Well then! See you later!”_ Yuto exclaimed before hanging up.

* * *

“So...um…”

Wataru and Ren sat at opposite ends of the counter, away from each other.

“Nice weather we’re having?”

Wataru internally cringed at his own question.

Ren turned to him, visibly confused. “But...it’s been cold and cloudy this entire day?”

“...”

“...”

_*sip*_

_Just kill me now._

They’ve been sitting in silence for the past 30 minutes after being locked inside Submariner. The air between them was suffocating as Wataru continued to sip his now-cold coffee while Ren looked uncomfortable being alone with the bassist.

_Not that I can blame him._

Ever since Wataru ran away from Ren that night, they haven’t had a proper conversation with each other—except when it came to matters regarding the band. 

So things are really awkward between them right now.

“Um, Wataru?”

Wataru flinched, not expecting Ren to talk to him. “What is it?” he asked, refusing to turn around—he still did not have the courage to face him properly.

“About that night…”

“Oh.” Wataru set his cup down. “...What about it?”

“I'm sorry.”

“Huh?” Wataru turned around to look at Ren for the first time in two weeks.

“I talked to you about my feelings for Nayuta-kun and how he felt the same for me despite you having those same feelings for me,” he said with an apologetic look on his face.

Wataru turned back to his coffee. “You don’t have to apologize—you didn’t know.” He picked up his cup. “In fact, I should be the one apologizing.”

Wataru drank his coffee to give himself some time to organize his thoughts before speaking.

“...To be honest, I always knew about your feelings for Nayuta,” he confessed.

That caught Ren off-guard. “You have?”

Wataru nodded. “I thought you were just admiring him and that those feelings would fade over time. But in the end,” he turned back to Ren, “you ended up falling for him.”

Ren averted his eyes from Wataru’s gaze. “Yeah…”

“Some part of me thought that, maybe if I confessed, I could divert your attention from Nayuta onto me.” He curled his hand into a fist. “But I never had the courage to actually confess.”

“Wataru…”

“It was incredibly selfish of me to push my feelings onto you after coming back from confessing to Nayuta, wasn’t it?” He sighed. “I’m sorry about that.”

The café became silent once again as Wataru turned back to his half-empty cup, not wanting to see Ren’s expression. 

He then proceeded to drink the rest of his coffee until Ren spoke up.

“I forgive you.”

Wataru quickly turned back to Ren. “What...?”

“Before talking to you, I was really confused and didn’t know what to do,” Ren began to explain. “You could have easily dissuaded me from going after Nayuta-kun, but you still encouraged me to go after him despite your feelings for me.” 

He gave him warm smile.

“So, thank you. I forgive you.”

Wataru suddenly felt guilty for receiving Ren’s smile. “...What if I told you that that thought actually crossed my mind—of telling you to give up on Nayuta so that I could have you all to myself?” he asked, looking down at the floor. “Would you still say thanks and forgive me?”

“...But you didn’t.”

Wataru smiled bitterly. “Of course not—isn’t it normal to want the person you love to be happy?”

“Even if it means sacrificing your own happiness?”

Wataru was silent.

_*scrape*_

“Wataru.”

Wataru felt himself being wrapped into a gentle embrace. “R-ren!?”

“I love you.”

Wataru blushed. “What!?”

“Huh?” Ren turned red once realized what he said. “N-not like that! I meant as a friend!”

Wataru couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “Oh…”

“Sorry for saying something so misleading…”

“No, I was the one who misunderstood you…”

Ren tightened his hug. “That’s why I want you to be happy as well—you don’t have to keep prioritizing my happiness over yours if it’s going to make you sad.”

“...”

_“What’s the point of him being happy if you’re the one who ends up miserable?”_

Wataru chuckled. “You two are really similar…”

“Hm?”

“It’s nothing.” Wataru returned the hug before burying his face into Ren’s chest, relishing in his warmth. “Thank you,” he whispered.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until Ren moved to let go of Wataru. But before they could fully separate, Wataru grabbed Ren’s arms. 

“Ren.”

Ren looked down at Wataru. “What is it?”

Wataru met Ren’s eyes and smiled.

“I’ll be supporting you and Nayuta from now on.”

He then let Ren go.

* * *

“YU!!”

_*WHACK*_

“OW!”

Yuto rubbed his head. “What was that for?”

Wataru—whose hand was still in a fist—was fuming. “What do you think?”

Shortly after Ren and Wataru finished talking, Master came back to Submariner with Yuto and the others in tow. When they saw that they had patched things up, Master unlocked the building and let them out.

Everyone then said their farewells—promising to show up for band practice tomorrow—before going on their separate ways back to their homes.

However, as soon as Ren, Rio, and Banri were out of Yuto and Wataru’s sight, Wataru immediately hit Yuto on his head.

“Don’t you know how reckless your plan was!?” Wataru began to scold. “What if something happened and we needed to get out but couldn’t!? What if someone passed by and saw that we were locked in and reported it, getting Master into trouble!? What if-”

“Alright, alright I get it!” Yuto stood up straight. “I’m sorry.”

Wataru eventually calmed down and sighed. “I’m sorry for hitting you—even if you did deserve it.”

Yuto pouted.

“Anyways,” Wataru shivered, “it’s way too cold out. We should head back as well.”

Yuto also shivered. “Yeah.”

They began to walk back to their respective apartments together in complete silence until Yuto spoke up.

“Hey, Wataru?”

Wataru turned to him. “Hm?”

“How did things between you and Ren go?”

Wataru turned his attention back onto the road. “We were able to talk about what happened that night, but I think it’ll take some time before things go back to normal.”

“Oh~? Then does that mean my plan was successful?”

Wataru let out a sigh. “Yeah, it was,” he reluctantly admitted.

Yuto grinned before pulling Wataru close. 

“Ack-!”

“See! I knew you could do it!”

“It felt rather forced though…”

“But in the end, you guys talked to each other, right? That’s what’s important!”

“I guess…” Wataru looked up at Yuto. “But there’s one thing I'm curious about.”

“What is it?”

“Why did you go to such lengths for me and Ren?”

Yuto stopped walking and turned to Wataru—still wrapped around his arm.

“Didn't I tell you before? You always help me out with my problems, so now it's my turn to do the same for you!”

Wataru raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s your only reason?”

Yuto let out a small laugh before he continued walking. “I can’t hide anything from you, huh?”

“But yeah, I do have another reason.”

“And that is...?”

Yuto released his grip around Wataru. “I didn’t want you and Ren to stop talking to each other.”

“Huh?” Wataru turned to him with a surprised expression. “That’s it?”

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? Ren's important to you, right?”

“Yeah-”

“But then you began to completely avoid any interactions with him after being rejected..."

“Yu?”

“I know it hurt being rejected by Ren—and it’s normal for not wanting to see him for awhile—but if you kept avoiding him, you guys would eventually stop talking and drift apart, which will hurt even more.” Yuto had a faraway look on his face. “I didn’t want that for you guys.”

He turned back onto the road as he began to think about a certain golden-eyed guitarist.

Wataru let out a light huff. “You’re being surprisingly wise today.”

“Huh!?” Yuto turned his head back to Wataru. “What do you mean ‘today’? I’ll have you know that I’m wise everyday!”

“Oh? Then what about that time during lecture when you-”

Yuto immediately put one hand on his face and held his other hand out.

“AAAHH NO! STOP RIGHT THERE!”

“...pfft-”

Yuto peeked out of his hand. “Hm?”

“AHAHAHAHA!!”

Yuto stared at Wataru completely dumbfounded as he began to laugh for the first time in two weeks.

His mouth curled up into a smile shortly before joining Wataru in laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> I felt the sins of making Wataru cry in his apartment in TSDYFI lift from my shoulders when I made him laugh here.
> 
> This concludes _That 'Something,' Did You Find It?_. Thank you all for reading that and this fic! ❤️


End file.
